Comprehensive Collection of Basic Book Collection for Chinese Families -- Volume -- Three Hundred Songs of the Song Dynasty

Author: Zhu Xiaozang (Qing) editor and selected, Zhang Yi annotated and analyzed
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-08-01
Features:
Thin mist and thick clouds fill the long day,
Golden beast melts in the morning dew.
Another Double Ninth Festival arrives,
Jade pillow and gauze curtain,
Coolness begins to seep through at midnight.
At the eastern fence, holding wine after dusk,
A faint fragrance fills the sleeves.
Don't say it's soul-crushing,
The west wind rolls up the curtain,
Person is thinner than the chrysanthemum.
— Li Qingzhao, "Drinking Under the Moon"
A new song, a cup of wine,
Last year's weather, an old pavilion.
When will the setting sun return?
Helpless to watch flowers fall,
Familiarly, swallows return.
Alone, I linger on the fragrant path in the small garden.
— Yan Shu, "Ripples on the Sand"
A Ci poem, which flourished in the Tang Dynasty and reached its peak in the Song Dynasty, is a new lyrical form that can be set to music and sung. It combines the rhythm of music, the intricate rhyme, the varying lengths of lines, and the sincere and moving emotions into one, quickly becoming a beloved literary style and the representative literature of the Song Dynasty. Ci is an important form of Chinese literature, and the Song Dynasty was a period of great achievements in Ci creation. As the saying goes, "Each generation has its own literature," so Ci is the most representative genre of Song literature. Ci is also known as "long-short sentences" or "quzi Ci," and it originated around the mid-Tang Dynasty, maturing in the Northern Song Dynasty. The development of Ci is closely related to music, as it can be set to tunes and sung. The influence of music became one of the key factors determining the stylistic features of Ci.
"Three Hundred Selected Ci Poems of the Song Dynasty" aims to introduce three hundred selected Song Ci poems in a simple, concise, and essential manner. The annotations are brief and strive to clarify the meaning of the poems. The colloquial translations seek to accurately convey the original meaning of the poems in a straightforward way, with elegant and fluent language, while preserving the artistic flavor of the original. The analysis of the poems is concise and precise, interpreting the imagery, emotional essence, and expressive techniques of the works, providing a reference for lovers of Song Ci to appreciate and understand the art of Ci.